Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Tax Office views on accessing Family Court documents

As mentioned in
last week’s post, in the case of Darling, the Tax Office was given access to material lodged as part of
family law proceedings, to further its audit activities in relation to the
husband of the marriage.

In addition to providing a
useful summary of the key aspects of the court decision, the Statement confirms
–

There is an implied
obligation on the Tax Office not to make use of documents disclosed as part of
a family law case for a purpose not related to the family court litigation (ie
to assist the Tax Office with its tax audit activities).

Whenever
the Tax Office is wanting access to court documents for use other than in
relation to the case in which the documents were filed, it will make an
application to the court for release from the implied obligation.

In making an application to court, the Tax
Office will have regard to the factors set out in the Darling decision (as
summarised in last week’s post).